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Embrace our transhumanist future with Skylnz Ablze’s electrifying synth wave single, Memory Empty

Posted on 30 October 2023

Even though synth wave is all the rage in 2023, the Chicago-hailing songwriter, producer, and engineer Skylnz Ablze, rode his synth lines into a cut above the rest with the seminally animatronic single, Memory Empty, from his sophomore LP, Born from Electricity, which was crafted to exhibit a new perspective on pop.

By taking influence from electronica pioneers The Human League, New Order and Gary Numan and synthesising the new wave pop aesthetic into one that fizzes with oscillating ingenuity, Skylnz Ablze allowed the transhumanist future that awaits us all to embrace the listener from the very first ensnaring 808 kick to the last.

Memory Empty hit the airwaves on October 13th; stream it on Spotify as part of Skylnz Ablze’s sophomore LP, Born from Electricity.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cali Ave Lo delivered lyrical wit so sharp you will get whiplash in ‘Way I Feel’ ft. Monie$

Posted on 15 October 2023

The lyrical wit in Cali Ave Lo’s standout rap track, Way I Feel, is sharp enough to tear a hole in the airwaves, even if the blows of the Machiavellian bars are softened by the jazzy and groove-deep old-school instrumentals, which allow the single to drip in luxe magnetism. He wasn’t playing when he warned he is a beast that can’t be tamed.

The single, created in collaboration with Monie$, is just one of the fresh-with-innovation-and-intellect singles found on Cali Ave Lo’s latest album, Untitled. Uncut. 3, which is already going down a storm with the Chicago-hailing artist’s legion of fans which is growing by the day thanks to his commitment to being one of the most thought-provoking artists on the underground. If your playlists are already filled with hits from Kanye, DMX, Lil Wayne and Jay Z, you will want to make room for Cali Ave Lo.

Way I Feel dropped on September 27; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chi Waller prescribed high-fire flavour in her alt-rap track, OutWest Players ft Wan00 & Mo Joe

Posted on 9 October 2023

For her latest single, OutWest Players, Chicago’s fieriest alt-rap trailblazer, Chi Waller, stepped into the studio with Wan00 and Mo Joe to deliver a soul-affirmingly flavourful hit of pure soulful ingenuity.

The rapid-fire rap bars from the powerhouse trio against the melodically mesmerising rhythms and smooth polyphonic synths is an intoxicating amalgamation; the juxtaposition between the soul and attitude makes the alchemy of OutWest Players infinitely sweeter.

If you can imagine a blend of Busta Rhymes and Macy Gray’s signature styles, you’ll have an idea of the kind of innovation that will greet you if you take a chance on this enlivening synthesis of soul, rap, funk and RnB.

OutWest Players dropped on September 20. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Slip into the hazy catharsis of No Lonesome’s Indie-Psych-Folk single, It’s

Posted on 16 August 2023

With tones that will do as much for your nostalgia-seeking soul as songs from The Beatles, The Maccabees, and The Violent Femmes, the debut album, Flowers Recomposing, from the Chicago-hailing alt-folk outfit No Lonesome is a Tour De Vintage Force.

Between the blissful timbres of the harmonies and the serotonin that spills from the foggy with euphoria horn stabs, the standout single on the album, It’s, is the perfect introduction to the ingenuity of No Lonesome, which can be tracked through the distinction in the production that melds the quirky intimacy lo-fi with higher fidelity instrumental recordings.

If you were under any illusion that fresh alchemy can’t be squeezed out of amalgamating folk, 60s psych-pop and indie Americana, the seminally sticky-sweet LP will prove you otherwise as soon as you slip into the hazy catharsis.

The debut album from No Lonesome is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Softmax connects through disjointed isolation in her Lynchian installation of electronica, Swishers

Posted on 9 August 2023
Softmax

Silence fell after the 2022 debut EP, But What If There Isn’t?, from the Chicago-native Softmax; in her time away from the airwaves, she honed her craft and primed herself for her latest single, Swishers.

Co-produced by Joel Ford, of How to Dress Well fame, and Berlin’s premier electronica producer, Gabriel Gifford, Swishers sets a dramatically Lynchian tone to create a dystopian synthpop backdrop for the portrayal of inwardly imploding isolation while everyone falsifies their lives online.

The sentiment is just as resonant as the score orchestrated to depict the agonisingly disjointing feelings. Clearly, Softmax has a talent for reflecting the rawest facets of the human experience back at us. The syncopated beats and oscillating synths paint a portrait of how it feels when black holes of alienation form as a fixture in the arrangement of your bedroom furniture.

In her own words: “It’s about wanting to connect with the world and understand people while feeling further and further from it,”

Swishers will hit the airwaves on August 9th as a courtesy of the London-based indie record label, Psychotic Reaction Music. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Subatlantic bled etherealism into indie post-punk with their latest single, Critic

Posted on 8 August 2023
Say It Again by Subatlantic

Illinois’ premier indie outfit, Subatlantic, is on scintillatingly atmospheric form in their single, Critic, taken from their hotly-anticipated LP, Say It Again.

With angular guitar lines that will reel you into the centre of their darkwave pop universe, vocal lines that could give Debbie Harry a run for her money and the coldly beguiling tones spilling from the reverb-heavy keys, if Dead Can Dance, they’d dance to Critic, which unravels as a revelation of ethereal ingenuity.

With Becca Rice at the helm of the fourpiece, which has been dropping the temperature on the airwaves since 2008, Subatlantic has established itself as a dynamic powerhouse to watch; with soundscapes to suit every conceivable mood, there is undoubtedly something for you lingering in their artfully textured discography.

Stream and download Critic via Bandcamp or snag yourself a limited-edition colour vinyl pressing of the LP, Say it Again.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The 1930s Hot Club Jazz Scene is in Full Swing Once More in Bowmanville’s Seminal Single, Annie & Me

Posted on 3 August 2023

Almost 100 years stand between today and the Parisian 1930s Hot Club Jazz scene; listening to the raconteurs of sonic nostalgia, Bowmanville, you would be forgiven for thinking that it was only yesterday when beatniks with affinities for wild time signatures, swinging grooves and foot-tapping beats crowded clubs and started a movement that will never be lost to history.

Especially on the basis of the Chicago-hailing outfit’s swinging, smoky rhythmic drive and cinematically vibrant fusion of Jazz and Blues in Annie & Me, taken from their eponymous debut LP, produced by none other than the Grammy-nominated producer Doug Nelson.

Violinist Ethan Adelsman, harmonicist and vocalist Graham Nelson, percussionist Noah Plotkin, bassist Oliver Horton and guitarist Mason Jiller on guitar know just how to synergistically spill baroque alchemy as they blaze through the progressions in the instrumental score, which gives each pays ode to Chicago blues and the unmistakable timbres of Parisian Jazz.

Annie & Me is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Motel TV is in ‘Cruise Control’ on their cerebrally poetic new wave indie single.

Posted on 17 July 2023
MOTEL TV (EP) by MOTEL TV

The Chicago, Illinois indie evocators, Motel TV, are fresh from the release of their eponymous debut EP, featuring the introspectively transcendent single, Cruise Control; with one half of the four-piece outfit employed as successful psychotherapists, the single unravels as poignantly as expected.

With the post-punk-y electronic drum fills snapping against the ethereal reverb that spills from the accordant synth and guitar lines, a beguiling atmosphere is created for Motel TV to induce you into a deeper hypnotic state with their cerebral lyricism.

Just when you think you’ve got Motel TV all figured out, Cruise Control evolves from the psychedelia-instilled new wave dream pop synthetics to immerse you in a riff-powered chasm of garage rock as a reflection of the living discordance we all have to resist to keep on a path towards inner peace.

Naturally, any and all reminiscences are fleeting in Cruise Control, but fans of The Smiths, Joy Division and The Psychedelic Furs will easily accommodate the single in their playlists.

Stream Cruise Control which is part of the Motel TV EP on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chicago hip-hop duo, It’s a Cool Day, extrapolated ‘The Butterfly Effect’ in their debut

Posted on 27 June 2023

The Chicago duo, It’s a Cool Day put the trip in trip-hop by unveiling their elevated debut single, The Butterfly Effect, which fuses lush RnB melodies and harmonies with smooth rap verses and a pseudo-trap beat that becomes the centre of sonic gravity in the wavy, gravitas-packed single.

Craig Lowe and Derion Scroggins ripped up the urban rulebook and scattered the confetti through the vibe-steady hit, which spills a smorgasbord of soul as it mellowly progresses around the poetically ardent wordplay. Cathartic and convictive in its sense of passion, The Butterfly Effect is all the evidence you need that romance isn’t dead and that It’s a Cool Day has exactly what it takes to reign supreme in the Chicago scene and beyond.

The Butterfly Effect is now available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tune into Rebels in Stereo’s riotous punk rock anthem, Lace of Steel

Posted on 17 June 2023
CoVault by Rebels in Stereo

‘Lace of Steel’ is the riotously hooky seminal single from Chicago’s premier pop-punk-influenced outfit, Rebels in Stereo. Taken from their EP, CoVault, the overdriven to the nth degree hit reels you in with the edged and tight anthemics, but it is the vignette weaved through the high-octane release that keeps you immersed.

With a similar narrative to Thrash Unreal by Against Me! any female-identifying outliers that are looking for resonance will get more than they have bargained for when they delve into the punk rock anthem, which gains momentum through the modernist melodic power metal licks and the songwriting chops that are as sharp as a butcher’s cleaver.

With a new LP in the pipeline, there’s little doubt that 2023 will be the year of Rebels in Stereo. It takes far more than a powerful set of pipes to become an arresting frontwoman; thankfully, Cassidy’s vocal range is as wide-spanning as her talents in weaving soul into her superlative harmonies.

Stream and purchase Lace of Steel by heading over to Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast